TRUTH BE TOLD

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Aztec Calendar.

El Castillo. Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico.
This Mesoamerican step pyramid’s platform, along with its four
stairways of 91 steps, totals 365, or the number of days in a calendar
year.

Aztec Calendar.
The Aztec calendar was an adaptation of the Mayan calendar. It
consisted of a 365-day agricultural calendar, as well as a 260-day
sacred calendar. (This is a digital composite. Color added for
visibility.)

Among their other accomplishments, the ancient Mayas invented a
calendar of remarkable accuracy and complexity. At right is the ancient
Mayan Pyramid Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. The Pyramid of Kukulkan at
Chichén Itzá, constructed circa 1050 was built during the late Mayan
period, when Toltecs from Tula became politically powerful. The pyramid
was used as a calendar: four stairways, each with 91 steps and a
platform at the top, making a total of 365, equivalent to the number of
days in a calendar year.
The Maya calendar was adopted by the other Mesoamerican nations, such
as the Aztecs and the Toltec, which adopted the mechanics of the
calendar unaltered but changed the names of the days of the week and the
months. An Aztec calendar stone is shown above right.
The Maya calendar uses three different dating systems in parallel, the Long Count, the Tzolkin (divine calendar), and the Haab (civil calendar). Of these, only the Haab has a direct relationship to the length of the year.
A typical Mayan date looks like this: 12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz.